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16 Aug 12. ITT Exelis celebrated the grand opening of its composite design and manufacturing center Thursday in Salt Lake City, Utah. The new facility provides increased capacity and enhanced automation capability for advanced commercial and military composite aircraft structures. Composite structures are used increasingly by airframers as a proven alternative to metal structural parts on commercial and military aircraft, as well as on unmanned aerial vehicles. These structures add value because they help decrease an aircraft’s weight and fuel consumption and increase its resilience to environmental conditions and in-flight stress. With the company’s new facility, Exelis will be better positioned to meet customers’ growing needs for composites. (Source: Yahoo!/BUSINESS WIRE)
Aug 11. Kinloss: Army Takes Over. MoD (Air) reported that RAF Kinloss became Kinloss Barracks on 26 Jul 12. 39 Engineer Regiment took over the base which has been an RAF Station since 1939. Guests at the ceremony included the Lord Lieutenant of Moray and the General Officer Commanding the Army in Scotland.
Comment: The Nimrod Mk2 fleet was retired in March 2010 and the Nimrod MRA4 project was cancelled in October 2010, leading to the decision to close RAF Kinloss. Some 720 personnel and 200 families from 39 Engineer Regiment will have moved from Waterbeach to Kinloss by the end of August 2012. 39 Engineer Regiment is an Air Support Regiment and all too familiar with the trappings of an airfield (runways, hangars, hard standings and so forth). (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS, Issue 12/33, 20 Aug 12)
15 Aug 11. AVIASUR Opens New AgustaWestland Service Centre in Santiago, Chile. AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, is pleased to announce that a new AgustaWestland Service Centre has been opened by AVIASUR to provide maintenance and other support services for AgustaWestland commercial helicopter customers. The service centre is located at AVIASUR’s modern facility at Santiago’s Arturo Merino Benítez International Airport in Chile, where an official opening ceremony was held on 8th August. The opening of a new service centre in Chile continues AgustaWestland’s strategy to provide customers with greater levels of service close to their operating locations. The opening of AVIASUR’s Service Centre brings the number of AgustaWestland Service Centres worldwide to over eighty, with a programme underway to further expand this network around the world.
07 Aug 12. Work begins on Russian brigade combat training centre. The revamped combat training centre (CTC) for the Russian Army at Mulino, 400 km east of Moscow, within the area of the Russian forces’ Joint Strategic Command (JSC) West, is due to be ready for its first training rotation in June 2014, exactly three years after contract signature. Equivalent CTCs are ultimately expected to be provided to meet the training needs of troops operating within the areas of the three other joint commands (JSCs East, Centre and South). (Source: Jane’s, IDR)
13 Aug 12. Boeing celebrated the opening of its new parts processing
center and building expansion in Gresham, Ore., a suburb of Portland. Employing about 1,800 people, Boeing Portland is an ISO 14001-certified site that serves as the company’s Center of Excellence for complex machining, gear systems and flight controls. Elected officials and representatives from community and business groups and construction companies joined Boeing employees to commemorate the opening. (Source: ASD Network)
15 Aug 12. DRS Technologies officially opened a state-of-the-art aircraft maintenance/overhaul facility in South Alabama. The facility, collocated with the South Alabama Regional Airport in Andalusia, Ala., will provide maintenance, modification, repair and overhaul services for fixed and rotary wing aircraft. A ribbon-cutting ceremony at the new site included Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, U.S. Rep. Martha Roby, City of Andalusia Mayor Earl John